North Village 2 Devonshire Cougars 0

Two clinically executed goals either side of the half from Domico Coddington and Kevin Jennings gave League and FA Cup champions North Village a well deserved 2-0 win over Devonshire Cougars in the Charity Cup Final at BAA Field on Saturday night.

Playing before a crowd of about 1,200 in the season's traditional curtain-raiser, Village were a class apart, overpowering their rivals in every facet of the game.

The final scoreline, however, did them scant justice as Marlon Dill, not once but twice, failed to convert from the penalty spot either side of the interval.

After an uneventful opening 20 minutes, Heys Wolfe threatened to give Cougars the lead, finding himself all alone deep in Village territory with just ‘keeper Zane Hendrickson to beat. However, an alert Hendrickson did well to rush off his line to avert the danger.

Five minutes later, it was Raymond Beach's turn but again a well organised Village defence, marshalled superbly by Michael Hansey throughout, shut the door on the gifted forward.

A probing Jennings and Sergio Goater then had fine efforts just barely miss the target before Beach again caused some anxiety at the other end, twice having his shots hastily cleared away by the Village defence.

With half-time looming, Village finally broke the deadlock in the 37th minute, courtesy of a blunder by Cougars ‘keeper Ricardo Brangman.

A well-flighted Jennings cross from the left flank wasn't cleanly collected by the ‘keeper, leaving an alert Coddington with the easiest of tasks to rifle home from close range at the far post.

From here, Village threatened to blow the match wide open as the tireless Jamaul Boyles and Goater also saw their efforts come agonisingly close.

Frustration seemed unsettle Cougars as an out-of touch Mark Smith was booked in the 43rd minute for a crunching tackle on Jennings.

Village should have doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when veteran Dwight (Payback) Warren was tripped up in the box but Dill scoffed the chance from the spot, Brangman making amends for his earlier blunder by diving to his right to block the soft effort and keep his side in the match.

The start to the second half was delayed for over 40 minutes after the lights at the southern end of the pitch went out, leaving ground staff frantically scrambling to solve the problem.

When play did resume at 9.45 p.m, Cougars desperately tried to claw their way back into the match with both Beach and player/coach Shawn Smith causing a stir in the Village defence.

However, Jennings iced the match in the 56th minute, running onto a partial clearance on the edge of Cougars' box to crack home a first-time low drive that whistled into the lower bottom corner, leaving the opposition stunned.

Hansey saw his adventurous overhead shot barely miss only moments before Dill again failed from the penalty spot, this time blasting his shot miserably wide of the goal.

Beach was unfortunate in the 61st minute to have a goal disallowed for offside and as frustration continued to grow, the lively forward had to be separated from Hansey in midfield.

But other than for a few more isolated forays into Village terrain, it just wasn't to be Cougars' night as Scott Morton's men seized the victory in the absence of key players Clay Smith, assistant player/coach Kentoine Jennings and new acquisition Keith Jennings.

“It was good to see some things being accomplished that we had worked on during training. My objective wasn't only a win, though we will take the victory,” said Village coach Scott Morton following the match.

“I'm satisfied to a certain degree on the things that we were trying to achieve and it's good to start off on winning ways because it then becomes a habit.”

Bermuda Women's Resource Centre were the night's other big winners as the local charity received donations from gate receipts at Saturday's match.

North Village: Z.Hendrickson, J.Thomas, R.Spence, S.DeShields, M.Hansey, K.Jennings, D.Coddington, J.Boyles, M.Dill (A.Evans, 67 mins), D.Warren (J.Davis, 72 mins), S.Goater (D.Tankard, 83 mins).

Devonshire Cougars: R.Brangman, G.Butterfield (J.Simmons, 80 mins), D.Brangman, D.Eve, J.DeShields, S.Smith, M.Smith, S.Coddington (T.Smith, 66 mins), K.Goddard (K.Steede, 89 mins), H.Wolfe, R.Beach.

Booked: M.Smith (Cougars) 43 mins.

Men of the Match: J.Boyles (Village); S.Smith (Devonshire).

Referee: S.Crockwell.

l In the night's opening match, a beautifully taken 75th minute goal by Naquita Dill gave Rude Girls a 1-0 win over Hemisphere Royals to clinch the Women's Charity Cup.